On: France’s new high-speed trains

[microcolonel]

> In French pronunciation the two first vowels are really different ("ennui" in French starts with a nasal 'a' sound which doesn't resemble an 'i' at all, to French ears at least).

Yeah, I was confused when I tried to understand the connection they were trying to make.

> Another point missed by the article is that in French "ennui" usually doesn't have the philosophical undertones that it has in English.

Fatty liver is a disease, foie gras is a delicacy. ;- )

[aidenn0 → microcolonel]

At my D&D table we pronounced "Coup de grâce" as someone french might pronounce "Coup de gras" for years the latter of which translates to something along the lines of "Blow of fat (or grease)" (rather than "Blow of mercy")

[edit]

For non-francophones, the correct pronunciation is roughly "Koo day grass" and we were saying "Koo day grah"

[moviuro → aidenn0]

Hmm, more like "Koo de grass", where "e" is pronounced as in "err" (hesitation): listen to https://translate.google.com/#view=home&op=translate&sl=fr&t...

[mc32 → microcolonel]

But we could say “fatted liver” and that would work, but of course food sophisticates need a more sophisticated term for their food to taste better.

[frutiger → mc32]

Side note: grammatically "fattened liver" should be preferred over "fatted liver".

[mc32 → frutiger]

For the fattening of animals intended as food it’s typically accepted grammar to use “fatted” as in a “fatted pig”.

Same as “datums” is correct in some contexts.

[falsedan → mc32]

> it’s typically accepted grammar to use “fatted” as in a “fatted pig”

no it ain't, it's extremely out-of-mode

[microcolonel → falsedan]

Really though, fatted is the word; and in this context, it is the more direct translation of gras.

[falsedan → microcolonel]

literal translations are inhuman. write what your audience will understand, not what the isomorphic pair based on linguistic common ancestor is

unless being right is more important than communicating effectively